Everyday, our midday Office has the Antiphon sung of, 'Jesse's root has blossomed'.
The Root of Jesse
The rod (or root) of Jesse was interpreted by early Christians as a Christlike
figure. This imagery was connected to David's royal line, from which both
Joseph and, according to Church tradition, Mary were descendants. The lineage
grew through the ages and blossomed in the persons of Mary and Christ. Isaiah
11:1–10 says, “There Shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a
Branch shall grow out of his roots … and in that day there shall be a Root of
Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the people; for the Gentiles shall seek
him and his resting place shall be glorious.”
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| Antiphon - Gregorian Chant |
Our Lady Of Aberdeen
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The early history of the
statue of Our Lady of Aberdeen consists of fact, speculation and legend.
The mediaeval statue of Our Lady of Aberdeen is approximately three feet high,
probably carved in linden wood, and painted. It was also decorated with
silver and gold. Our Lady carries the Christ Child in her arms and holds
a sceptre. She wears an open crown and the Child has the closed imperial
crown. The crowns and sceptre are silver and may not be the original
ones. It is commonly described as being carved in the Flemish tradition
and even to have come from Flanders. There is no reason to suppose that there
were no capable sculptors in the North East of Scotland, though all the
evidence of their work disappeared at the time of the Reformation.
The original medieval statue is said to have stood
in either the Cathedral of Saint Machar or the Mother Kirk of Saint
Nicholas in Aberdeen in the time of Bishop Gavin Dunbar. It was credited with
miraculously directing him to the spot where the new bridge over the River Dee
should be built. Whatever its history up to that point, it is fairly
certain that a finer silver Madonna replaced it in its favoured position and it
was given as a gift by Bishop Dunbar to the new chapel, which stood by
the new Bridge of Dee (1527). Here travellers to the city could pause
after their dangerous journey and give thanks to the Virgin for their safe
arrival.
The chapel was given into the care of the
Magistrates of Aberdeen in 1529 and so it remained until 1559, when the first
of the so called “reformers” reached the city from the South. There is a
legend that the “reformers”, in their zeal, threw the Madonna into the Dee,
where it was caught by the tide and floated down to the harbour. Here it
was said to have been rescued by the crew of a ship bound for Ostend.
This may have happened but it is more probable that it was carefully preserved
beforehand.
Both the City Fathers and Bishop William Gordon had
made arrangements to hide all Church property of value with various families,
such as the Gordons of Huntly. What became of most of
these intrinsically valuable items is not known but the wooden Madonna's
history continues. Whether by design or by accident it was saved and
eventually arrived in the Netherlands, where it was installed with great
ceremony in the Church of Notre Dame du Bon Succčs, Brussels. The
Statue, now known as "Our Lady of Good Success" (the title "Our
Lady of Aberdeen" came later) was eventually moved, by order of Napoleon,
to the Church of Notre Dame de Finistčre, where it remains to this day.
In 1860, when the Cathedral of St. Mary of the
Assumption was dedicated in Aberdeen, a petition for the statue's return to the
city was made to Pope Pius IX. The appeal was unsuccessful so the statue
remains in Brussels, where the people hold it in great affection.
There are fine copies of it in the North East of
Scotland, in St. Mary's Cathedral, St. Peter's, Justice Street, at the Former
Convent of the Sacred Heart, Queen's Cross (now the Bishop's House) and in St.
Peter's, Buckie.
Our Lady of Aberdeen St Mary's Cathedral Huntly Street Aberdeen
Our Lady of Good Success
Our Lady of Aberdeen is a Madonna and
Child statuette, a copy of a similar statuette in Brussels known as Notre Dame
du Bon Succès. Copies of Notre Dame du Bon Succès are to be found across the
North East of Scotland. It is believed that the statue in Brussels may have
been in Old Aberdeen as early as 1450. References to a statue in a Chapel at
the Bridge of Dee in Aberdeen suggest that it may have been placed there by
Bishop Gavin Dunbar of Aberdeen (1514–1531).
This copy of the statue is in St Peter's
church in Aberdeen, and it is a beautiful image of the Virgin Mother.
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| It would be interesting to learn of the artist in the Sisters of Nazareth, founded in Aberdeen. |
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